Bruins start big, finish strong to down Islanders

Feb 18, 2011 - 4:03 AM

Uniondale, NY (Sports Network) - Milan Lucic, David Krejci, Tyler Seguin and
Blake Wheeler all recorded a goal and an assist as Boston jumped out to a big,
early lead and went on to defeat the New York Islanders, 6-3, at Nassau
Memorial Coliseum.

Mark Recchi and Gregory Campbell also potted goals for the Bruins, who began a
six-game road trip by ending a three-game slide.

Tuukka Rask turned away 34 shots to earn the win for the visitors, who have
defeated the Islanders in both meetings this season and in 10 of their last
12.

John Tavares tallied twice and Josh Bailey added a goal for the Islanders, who
had a four-game win streak snapped.

Nate Lawson was pulled after allowing five goals on 18 shots to suffer the
loss in just his eighth career game. Al Montoya allowed a lone goal on 16
shots after taking over in the second period.

Seguin chased down a loose puck and passed to Wheeler, who backhanded a low
shot past Lawson from below the left circle to end a 15-goal game drought
dating back to January 11 just 1:52 into the contest.

Patrice Bergeron flipped a backhand saucer pass to Recchi that was knocked
down by Isles defenseman Bruno Gervais and went in off Recchi's skate as he
was moving through the top of the crease. The play was reviewed and upheld,
giving the Bruins a two-goal edge only 7:03 into the game.

Boston made it 3-0 two minutes later when Campbell intercepted a failed
clearing attempt and wristed a shot from the right point past Lawson.

"When you get down three goals against the Boston Bruins, you're chances of
coming back are not very good," Tavares said. "We came out slow, we didn't
play our game and we weren't moving our feet. If we keep that mentality with
all the shots we had in the last two periods, we're going to keep scoring
goals. We just have to be better in our own zone."

The visitors struck again when Krecji backhanded the rebound of his own shot
past Lawson just 55 ticks into the middle session.

"You don't want to play the score, you just try to focus on your game and
stopping every puck," Rask said of being staked to such a sizeable lead. "At
the end of the day, you just want to stop every puck, no matter what."

A Tavares wrister got the Isles on the board 55 seconds later, but any
momentum from that goal was squashed when Seguin snapped a shot past Lawson a
minute later. The rookie netminder was then pulled in favor of Montoya.

A Bailey slap shot from the inside of the left circle brought the Isles to
within three just under three minutes later ,but the four-goal cushion was
restored when Lucic snapped a shot past Lawson at 7:17 on the power play.

The Islanders sliced their deficit to three again when Tavares backhanded a
rebound past Rask with seven minutes left in the game.

Game Notes

Boston has scored a power play goal in five straight games. It is the first
time the Bruins have done that since February 22 - March 3, 2009...Rask is
3-1-0 in four career meetings with the Isles...Boston general manager Peter
Chiarelli said winger Chris Kelly, who was acquired from the Senators on
Tuesday, did not receive proper immigration approval for him to play in
Thursday's game. However, he will meet the team in Ottawa and will be
available to play in Friday's game against his former team...New York is
7-27-4 when allowing the game's first goal...Islanders winger Michael Grabner
had a six-game goal-scoring streak snapped.